


the thirst

by Dabberdees



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, I would tag it if it was, Not Character Death, Vampires, and people are struggling with morals, no one actually dies, well not exactly anyway - Freeform, which means there is blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:13:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24688204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dabberdees/pseuds/Dabberdees
Summary: The last thing she wanted to do was get them all killed.Well, you can't really call it death, can you?
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor & Yasmin Khan & Graham O'Brien & Ryan Sinclair
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	the thirst

**Author's Note:**

> some of you might've read this before because i did originally post it in my fic trouble which consisted of different prompts, but I've changed and added a few things to this

The smell irritates the Doctor's nose—a mixture of rust and damp. Dust and cobwebs float through the disturbed air while rats scurry about with little squeaks. She slaps her tongue against the roof of her mouth in disgust. She can taste it, it sticks in the back of her throat like week-old gym socks. "It's not much further now."

"Doc," Graham voice comes from her right, whispered and hushed in the small space that they're edging through. "What are-" There's a pause as his feet shuffle quickly behind her. "-What are we doing exactly? You never said by the way."

The Doctor continues forward; hand pressed flat against the wall with one hand leading back to Graham. She's got better eyesight, and he's relying on her to see for the pair of them. "Getting them back; I would've left you behind, but you're stubborn, you all are, but you're safer with me."

"I can see that, and that's great, always good to look out for us and all, but why are we breaking into someone's house and for another point-" Graham says, and she reckons he's rolling his eyes behind her back. "-What are we getting them back from exactly? Like what's the big deal here? They seemed fine in the town; you weren't worried about us then."

"I don't know exactly what it is, but something is wrong with this town-"

"How can you-"

She leans back when her better ears pick up voices, and she places her hand across the older man's mouth. " _Shh_."

Graham stares at her but compiles, she removes her hand, and he follows it as she points forward and beyond the small passageway that they're currently hiding in. Two people walk past, dressed in, well, in both of their opinions armour that wouldn't look out of place from an old Dracula film.

Graham frowns at that as he turns to look at the Doctor. He waits until he's sure they're alone again. "Doc?" He starts, looking puzzled. "Not being funny or daft here but they looked straight outta that film that Ryan had us watch, what are they?"

"It's impossible, really, Graham." She says. "And we're not even on Earth right now, so it really doesn't make sense how they could even be here, I thought they were all gone."

"What is?"

"What they are, it's all myths and rumours, like the boogieman-" She frowns. "Well, not the Boogieman, knew him quite well, decent bloke-"

"Doc, you're going on a tangent."

"Right," She says. "Sorry."

Graham gestures with his hands, waving it away as he settles himself back against the rough wall. There's low light coming in from the wall separating the passage to the house, not enough to really see but enough to make it seem like they aren't in complete darkness. "Where are we anyway?"

"Secret passage, I think." The Doctor answers as her hands pull the sonic out. She clicks it a few times and brings it to her face, nose scrunching at the information. "As I said, it's not much further, should lead out into a room of some kind."

"Okay," Graham nods, hands now turning clammy. "But you still haven't said what or why we're getting them back," He reminds her. "I mean, you didn't seem to be worried when we split up at first, you know, and now we're breaking into this Lord's house. I just wanna know why cause I don't wanna get arrested and all for doing this."

"It's what the innkeeper said to me," The Doctor says, her hand reaching back and retaking the older man's hand. She frowns slightly at the obvious worry. "And it didn't feel right."

"But ain't that all just scary stories told to tourists?" Graham assumes. "Every town has its stories and all, this place can't be much different, can it?"

"Not exactly and it was the bit about young people going missing-"

"And what has that got to do with Ryan and Yaz?" Graham probes, heart rate picking up now. "They ain't from here, and she said that it takes a while for someone to go missing. That's if they're actually going missing in the first place-"

"That's the thing, Graham," The Doctor says, eyes squinting in the darkness of the passageway and nose wrinkling from the dust again. "They aren't from around here, and maybe I'm just being super cautious, and it's nothing, maybe they've just been invited up here for tea and biscuits, but on the off chance that they haven't, and this is something more than that I want to be sure-" She glances back. "It's safer for everyone."

"Doc," Graham says, and his hand squeezes hers, showing her that he's taking her worry seriously now. "You really think they're in danger?"

"I hope I'm wrong for once."

"So am I," Graham confesses. "So," He pauses again. "If they're in danger, then what is it? The danger that is. You mentioned myths earlier, so what sort are we talking about? Aliens?"

"Impossible ones," The Doctor says. "Impossible because they shouldn't exist now, but it-"

"What are you saying, Doc?"

The Doctor glances back, eyes locking with Graham's in the pale light. "Vampires-"

"Oh, come off it, Doc, what do-" He trails off, eyes narrowing when he spots the earnest look on her face. "You're not having a laugh are you, you're serious about this?"

"I hope I'm wrong-" The Doctor says, turning to head off again. "I met one in my fifth regeneration, nasty bunch," She says. "Tried turning an entire football stadium into them."

"Bleeding hell, Doc, and excuse the pun."

"I might still be wrong, Graham, it might be nothing," The Doctor says. She frowns for a moment. "We're close, just a little bit-"

The Doctor cuts herself off just as a cloud of smoke, thick and reddish appears in front of her. She glances behind her and sees the same on the other side of Graham; only his is morphing and changing, becoming stable and humanoid. She looks round to her's again, lips pursed. "Hi, lovely place you have here."

"Knew we heard something moving through the walls, thought it was the rats at first, but then we heard her," Her says. "Ain't that right, Tedric."

Tedric snorts. "Daft mortals thinking we wouldn't notice them, eh, Karel?" Tedric says. "This one looks older than what we usually have, but it's the stuff on the inside that we want really."

The Doctor watches as Karel studies her, head cocking to the side and eyes narrowing. "What are you?"

"What?" Tedric asks. "She's human-"

"No," Karel says, cutting his friend off. "Listen to her and the old man; there is a difference between them."

Tedric watches the Doctor, and then his head snaps back to Karel again. "Two heartbeats?"

"Yeah," Karel says, hand reaching out to the Doctor. "And to think we were just gonna have a meal-"

"Oh, you have got to be bloody kidding me," Graham says, voice nervous as his back pushes into the Doctor's. "Actual vampires," His head turns to face her. "They are them, aren't they?"

"I don't know," The Doctor replies. "Met a bunch that were fish before, could be a different kind, Graham."

"They must be with the other two we picked up," Karel says, ignoring their conversation. "They smell like it."

Graham focuses, well tries to, back onto the face of the vampire stood, he can't believe he's actually seeing this, in front of him. "Ryan and Yaz, what have you done with them?" He asks in a fearful tone. "If you've-"

"If we've what?" Tedric says, leaning into the older man and breathing in. "Drained them?"

"Leave him alone," The Doctor says. "Let him go."

Karel and Tedric share a look, red eyes locked against one another before they both shake their heads and laugh. "No."

"Just-" The Doctor cuts herself off when she feels hands grab her arms.

Graham yelps when he's grabbed as well and then feeling neither one wants to feel ever again happens as they're moved in much of the same manner, molecules being shifted and reshaped and then being deposited in the hallway. Graham closes his eyes, head and stomach spinning.

"You alright, Graham?" The Doctor asks, watching the older man with a sympathetic gaze. "It's like a teleport, only a lot more abrupt." She winces. "How do you do it?"

"It's a gift," Tedric says as he grabs ahold of Graham again. "Now come on, Lord Greywall would want to see you."

The Doctor shares a glance with Graham, head nodding and telling him not to put up a fight, not that she thinks he really could anyway with how green he's looking.

And she is curious where they're leading her. She frowns, curious and worried, but Ryan and Yaz, they're smart and strong. They'll be fine. She hopes, and that has to count for something, right? She focuses forward again, the corner of her eyes noticing that Graham keeps giving her a look every now and then.

"Where are you taking us?" The Doctor asks. "I don't like surprises,"

Neither of their escorts responds, and her frown deepens. She looks upon the paintings dotting the walls and then to the sconces. It's gothic and really does look like it would belong in a Dracula novel, but that's ridiculous, it really is. 

But is it? She's not sure as they're lead towards a door, open and revealing a grand room. Tables pushed to the walls and a deep red carpet leading up to a throne. There's someone sat on it, but that's not what draws their attention.

"Ryan," The Doctor hears Graham speak from the side her, eyes catching him struggling against Tedric. "What have you done to him?" He demands. "Mate, it's me, your grandad!"

"Bring them here," The man from the throne says. He's dressed in rich reds and delicate silk, face cut like diamonds. Pale and unmarked with eyes a dark red and voice like velvet on their ears. "I want to see them."

And to the both of them, he looks like one person from Earth's bloody history, but it's impossible. It's all rumours; she was so sure. Myths passed from generation to generation, they can't really be looking at the unliving master of undeath and blood himself, can they?

"Lord Greywall," Tedric says, arms throwing Graham to the floor while an indifferent Ryan and Yaz watch on. "We heard them making their way through the secret passage."

"Ryan, mate-" Graham says again, hands reaching out to him and then being yanked back once more.

Karel steps forward, head bowed. "The older one, he's just human like the others in the town, but she-" His eyes dart to the Doctor. "She's not."

The Doctor ignores Lord Greywall in favour of focusing on Ryan and Yaz. Their skin lacks the warmth that it should have. She pushes her mind forward, eager to see into theirs only to yank herself back when she finds pressure, something stronger than a mere human mind keeping them locked behind whatever wall that has been built.

Her attention finally gets brought to Lord Greywall, throne creaking as he gets up and stares down at her and Graham. "You're not from the town," He concludes, feet climbing down the steps. "That much I could smell and taste from your friends, oh the worlds and things they've seen, marked within their blood-" He rattles off. "You're not from this world, are you?" He purrs, voice sending chills through the pair of them. "No, your world is bright and filled with life, oh, such life-" He says, leaning ever closer. "-you even smell better than the townsfolk, healthy."

Graham tears his eyes away from Lord Greywall and forces them back onto Ryan. "Mate-" He goes to move forward again, this time being stopped by, oh she's reluctant to actually call him 'Dracula', but it fits, she can't deny that. "Graham, stop."

"Doc, he's done something to him though," Graham says.

"Graham-"

Lord Greywall inclines his head to the side and makes a grab for the older man. The Doctor goes to move forward, but she's yanked back by the guards. "Don't you dare, he's done nothing to you."

Lord Greywall ignores the Doctor and easily lifts the older man without struggle, clearly showing whos the strongest out of them here. "You're old."

"Leave him alone-" The Doctor says, body pulling against the hands held around her arms. Lord Greywall continues to blank her; eyes focused on Graham as his hand tightens around his neck. Her fears grows and blooms in her chest when the older man's kicking start to cease. "You don't have to kill him!" She yells, fighting against her captures. Eyes darting to the placid bodies of Ryan and Yaz, both merely watching this abuse. " _Please_."

Lord Greywall loosens his hold on Graham, eyes flicking to the Doctor. "He's not like they are," He says. "Youthful and pretty, he's lined and old, a good meal."

"Let him go," She says. "Let them all go; I don't know what you're planning or what it is that you want, but they've done nothing to you."

"No, they haven't," Lord Greywall answers back, his eyes look at Graham again. "I'd normally just feast on someone like him," He says, dropping Graham to the floor. The Doctor follows him, exhaling when the older man brings a hand to his throat. "But maybe-" Lord Greywall glances behind him, eyes flicking between Ryan and Yaz. "Is he worth it?" He asks. "You both know him, tell me, is he worth it? Should he be given this gift as you two have been?"

The Doctor feels the panic rise, and she watches as Ryan and Yaz seem to both come out of their trance-like state and step forward, eyes locking onto Graham. "He's seen what we've seen," They say, together, voices so them but tinged with something different. "And maybe more, he's older; we're a Family along with the Doctor, all four of us are."

Lord Greywall listens, head turning to Graham, pale hand pulling the older man back up again. "Perhaps-" He says, eyes flicking to the Doctor held within the guard's grip. "You can watch him," He smiles, gleefully. "And then you will join us as well."

The Doctor's eyes widen, and she calls out uselessly, hands trying to rip themselves free when Lord Greywall pulls Graham's head to the side, mouth connecting to his throat and pulling away. He drops him to the floor and tilts his head, mouth twitching into a smirk. "He's seen what they've seen, the wonder of the universe and more-" Lord Greywall eyes turn back to the Doctor again. "And you've shown them that."

"Graham," The Doctor says, finally finding the strength to pull herself free. She rushes towards her friend, eyes darting to Ryan and seeing nothing on his face, no emotion, just emptiness. "Look at me-"

Graham flicks his eyes towards the Doctor while blood spots at the corner of his mouth. "Doc-" He murmurs, head lolling backwards. "-Not your fault."

The Doctor clings to Graham, urging him to hold on, but knowing the futility of it when he stops moving altogether. "You killed him."

Lord Greywall turns and looks at her, hand wiping away his blood from his mouth with a cloth. "I've given him the gift of eternal life like I am about to give to you," He smiles and approaches her—pale hand holding her chin and lifting her head up. "What wonders will you give me?"

And then her head is angled as well, pulled roughly to the side. "You know," Lord Greywall purrs in her ear. "None of them have fed yet; perhaps once you're mine like they are, like the old one will be given enough time, we'll tear the town apart and then you can take us away from here," He says. "In your ship that I saw in their minds."

The Doctor would stare back, but she can't. She looks at Yaz's face, the blankness and she wonders if that will be her soon enough, twisted and controlled, bent under the will of whatever this creature is. Her eyes close tightly when she feels a sharp pain in her throat, blood pouring away, and body feeling weak.

Lord Greywall steps back. "Such interesting blood," He murmurs and the Doctor looks up, eyes blurring and fading, dying? She feels it, but it's different, not a regeneration, something else- "The memories, planets, history-" He says, face turning into a grin. "Worlds filled with life ripe for the taking and with a ship big enough for all of us."

His face is smug, and as she starts to slip her eyes briefly catching the moment, his eyes frown. Hand gripping against his head and pain, and then she feels nothing but inky blackness. Slipping and diving headfirst into it, eyes only catching another body dropping next to her, a cloud of something and then sweet nothing.

\----

There are voices above, two familiar ones, worried and urging. Hands gentle on her face, soft and cold. She shakes her head, the feel of it is wrong, and she's sure she's felt this before.

"Doctor," A voice says, young and caring and-

"Yaz?"

"That's me," Yaz says, voice trying to be strong. "I hope."

The Doctor's eyes flicker open, there's dust in the air, and it gets in her nose. Itchy and nasty to breathe in. "What happened?" She mumbles, body trying to sit up but stopping when the world spins out from her. "Feels like I've had another night with Rasputin."

"It takes a moment," Yaz says, and the Doctor watches as she glances over her shoulder. "How is he doing, Ryan?"

"Still out," Ryan replies. "But not dead, just-" There's an audible pause in the air. "Well, you know, maybe it takes longer for us. The Doctor isn't human." His face flickers and he swallows thickly. "None of us are now."

"What?" The Doctor asks, completely lost in the conversation now. She forces herself to sit despite the world tumbling in her field of view. What surrounds her are three distinct piles of ash, a throne and a room of red. She frowns, eyes catching Yaz and Ryan, then Graham, still crumpled on the floor, unmoving. It takes a moment, but it comes back in a flash, her head reaching for her neck as a stark realisation hits her squarely in the chest. "Oh."

"Oh?" Ryan repeats. "I was expecting-" He shrugs, arms wide, skin that still looks unliving. "-something a bit more than ' _oh_ ', Doctor."

The Doctor stares at him and then to Yaz and finally to Graham. She struggles upwards; each movement sending flashes to her brain. Ears picking up sounds she knows they shouldn't able to, eyes catching specs floating through the air, and the smell is something that makes her skin crawl. Metallic and weirdly something she's drawn to. She reaches down to Graham, pulling him back into her grasp. "Please," She mutters under her breath. His face is pale; blood pooled under him. She glances back to where she was lying and finds it the same. "Is he?"

Ryan watches her and then shakes his head. "I don't remember much, but I do remember what roughly happened-" His face frowns, brows knitting together. "-We watched you two when you were brought in here, but we-" His eyes flick to Yaz when she comes near them. "-I don't know."

Yaz kneels. "We knew who you were and we knew who we were, what we all did together, but Lord Greywall-" She scowls. "-Greywall, he got in our heads, Doctor, we couldn't stop it even if we tried."

Ryan nods. "They caught us on the outskirts of the town," He explains. "Brought us here and-" His eyes quickly dart away when Graham starts to move, fingers first and then his limbs. "-Take it easy, Graham, it's a lot to take in at first."

The Doctor silently agrees with that, head still throbbing from the sheer influx of new sensations.

"What happened?" Graham asks, eyes opening. His blue iris is gone, turned dark and red like theirs. "Feels like I've been on a bender, my head is killing me," He mumbles, hand coming up and resting against his eyes. "Haven't felt like this since my twenties."

The Doctor glances between her friends and then back to Graham again. "Graham," He looks at her, face frowning.

"Your eyes are different-" Graham points out as his gaze flicks to Ryan and Yaz as well. "You all look different."

The Doctor smiles and reaches a hand out to his. She expected to feel warmth, humans always do feel hotter to her, but she doesn't get that, she feels the same temperature from his hand as she does hers. "There's no easy way to say this, Graham," He flicks his eyes back to her again. Face turning confused. "We're-" Oh, how do you tell someone that they're currently _dead_?

Ryan watches her for a second and then focuses back onto his Grandad. "Hey, remember when we were in Norway?" Graham nods, still looking perplexed. "And we weren't in the mirror?"

"Yeah, but what has this got to do with why it feels like I have the hangover from hell?"

"Remember the question I asked? About whether we'd know if we were Vampires?" Graham nods again, this time looking like he might know where this is going as his hand raises to his neck. "Well, I think this might be the time that we'd know, Graham."

Graham's hand touches his throat as his eyes turn away from theirs. "We're-" He murmurs. He focuses back onto the Doctor again. "Tell me this is a dream or we were actually on a night out and I had too much to drink or- or you're pulling my leg, playing a trick, anything-"

"It's not a dream, Graham," Yaz says, her voice trembles slightly. "Trust us; we wouldn't joke about this."

Graham watches them all again, face turning from confusion to realisation. "When he bit me-" They nod, and he quietens for a moment, eyes looking away and back up again. "Can you fix it?" He asks, sitting up and wincing much in the same way the Doctor did.

The Doctor rocks back on her heels. Can she fix it? "Honestly?" She says, and they each turn to look at her. "I don't know-" She spots Ryan about to open his mouth. "-But I'll do everything I can to find something, that I can promise."

They each nod and then they're standing, Ryan holding Graham and Yaz holding the Doctor.

Graham flicks his eyes around the room again and then back to the Doctor. "In the meantime," He says. "And not to sound like an alarmist here or morbid, but there is an elephant in the room that none of us are acknowledging right now."

"What's that, Graham?"

"What do-" He frowns, clearly stuck on the word. His eyes close, and he takes a breath, nose wrinkling as he looks back at her. "What do our _kind_ -" He gestures between them. "-eat exactly?"

Ryan stares at his grandad. "Oh, trust you to think about your stomach first-"

"No, what I mean is-" Graham starts, looking pained for a second, like it's a struggle to breathe in the air. "I ain't doing that."

"What?"

"You know," Graham says, looking uncomfortable. "People," The moment he says the words each of their faces change, like they never thought about that. "Unless you two have-"

"No, god no," Ryan says. "We never left this place."

The Doctor, on the other hand, freezes. She never thought about it, but it goes with what that Lord Graywall said about them tearing the town apart, well, it really does make sense. Speaking of Lord Greywall- She frowns. "What happened after he bit me?" She asks Ryan and Yaz. "I watched him for a bit and then slipped away."

Yaz blinks at her. "We're not sure," She says. "I mean we felt him die, that's for certain, and then watched the others but-" She frowns as well now. "Why didn't we?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he turned us, didn't he? And then as soon as he had your blood, he died, taking everyone else with him, why?" She looks between them all. "What was so special about us three, and you?"

The Doctor stares back, head still spinning, but for different reasons now. "I don't know, but I promise you I'll figure something out." She stares at each of them. "And I will fix this, whatever it takes, I will fix this."


End file.
